frontiercommunications

Frontier tells CPUC it can fix Verizon's problems

28 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Been there, done that.

Frontier Communications already knows how to upgrade Verizon’s ageing copper telephone networks and make them broadband capable, according to Melinda White, president of Frontier’s western region, which includes California.

“We’ve done this before with Verizon so we’re very familiar with the products, and attributes of this deal”, White said. Frontier bought ten small copper-line phone systems in California from Verizon a few years ago, she said. Eight of those were telephone only, with no broadband service offered.… More

CPUC says yes to Petrolia and queues up Backus


Click to get the big picture for Backus Road.

Frontier Communications will get $203,000 from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build a microwave middle mile connection to the Humboldt County town of Petrolia and upgrade DSL service to 25 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to award the grant. Petrolia was initially identified as a candidate for a CASF subsidy by the Redwood Coast Broadband Consortium and is the first on a long list of high priority communities – as determined by the CPUC – to get actual project approval.… More

AT&T goes to the mattresses in North Carolina

21 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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AT&T is putting a move on Google Fiber and Frontier, inside of Frontier’s territory in Durham, North Carolina, according to a story by Lauren Ohnesorge in the Triangle Business Journal (h/t to Fierce Telecom for the pointer). The story quotes a local AT&T executive as saying that the company will soon be offering its Gigapower service, apparently via fiber to the premise technology and on what appears to be a limited basis…

AT&T has the resources to spread its technology more broadly.

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Frontier tells CPUC it will expand DSL service in rural California


Click for the full-sized version.

Frontier Communications executives outlined the company’s plans for the Verizon wireline systems it intends to acquire – ex parte communications in regulatory jargon – were made public last week.

The meetings confirmed that Frontier will get the retail businesses – “voice, Internet, VoIP and video service”, including FTTH FiOS systems – while Verizon will keep its mobile network and “other businesses”, which presumably include middle mile and commercial fiber. Verizon owns a lot of that in California.… More

Frontier says California approval delayed is funding denied

8 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Let’s hope there will be something to celebrate come New Year’s Eve.

It’s worth $192 million to rural areas of the state if the California Public Utilities Commission sticks to the schedule it set for reviewing Frontier Communications’ proposed purchase of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems. That’s one of the significant points of a joint response made by the two companies to questions posed by the Federal Communications Commission as it also reviews the transaction.

Frontier says it will use state and federal subsidies to upgrade broadband infrastructure in California…

If Frontier is able to obtain regulatory approvals for the Transaction prior to December 31, 2015, it will utilize available funding for broadband deployment in the high cost areas within the Transferring Companies’ territories.

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Verizon offers yet another reason to be glad we're in California

7 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Watch out, come harvest season.

The usual suspects are viewing Frontier Communication’s purchase of Verizon’s wireline business in California with alarm, but maybe we should be counting our blessings. Out east, Verizon’s deployment of fiber to the home service seems to be falling short of the benchmarks it promised New York City it would meet.

According to a story in TechDirt (h/t to the Baller-Herbst list for the pointer), Verizon deployed its FiOS plant to about half the homes promised, and not the half that really needed the upgrade.… More

Frontier's ability to deliver, particularly broadband, will be evaluated by CPUC

28 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Frontier Communications’ proposed purchase of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems in California is under review by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has to decide if the deal is in the public interest. Catherine Sandoval is the commissioner assigned to lead the review, and she’s laid out a broad basis for doing it, stating that it’s not just the interests of Verizon’s current customers that matter, instead “at the least, we must be able to say that the proposed transaction is overall net beneficial in its impact on the various affected constituencies.… More

Petrolia project shows how middle mile subsidies boost last mile speeds

21 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for more maps and financials.

Frontier Communications is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for $203,000 from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to pay for 60% of the cost of upgrading a microwave link between the tiny and remote Humboldt County town of Petrolia and high capacity fiber backhaul to the north in Ferndale. The application made it through the review process, and is now scheduled to be voted on by the CPUC next month.

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Frontier picks up a federal funding option but might miss even more in California

17 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Frontier has claimed the blue and brown areas, but Verizon could leave the yellow areas behind. Click for a closer look.

Frontier Communications is the first of the larger U.S. telephone companies to take up the Federal Communications Commission’s offer of several years of subsidies in exchange for upgrading broadband infrastructure in rural areas to a minimum service level of 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds.

The FCC announced yesterday that Frontier had said yes to its right of first refusal on money from the second phase of the Connect America Fund program.… More

Verizon won't sell all in California, appears to be clinging to juciest bits of its wireline networks


Clinging to California.

Competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are companies that lease wholesale facilities from incumbents – typically lines from a central office to subscriber locations – and add their own elements, often backhaul, upgraded DSL equipment and voice services. That means that the quality and price of the service CLECs provide partly depends on the condition of incumbent networks.

The lobbying group that represents CLECs in Sacramento – CalTel – is happy to see Verizon sell its wireline networks to Frontier Communications…

CalTel considers Verizon California to be an often uncooperative and indifferent-at- best wholesale supplier.

… More